Nature Unlimited’s beautiful photograph of children on the banks of a loch has won the final category at the 2020 Impact Funding Partners Photo Competition.  
 
Jan Barr, Project Coordinator at Nature Unlimited, said everybody was “chuffed, surprised and excited” that the judges had chosen their ‘Selkirk Silhouettes’ photograph as the winner of the Getting It Right category. The judges said what they loved most about the picture was the idea of the young people getting to explore the natural world. 

Speaking about the story behind the photograph, Jan said: “The children, “Wild Woodlanders”, wanted to explore around the Haining Loch. We suggested they create Journey Sticks (also known as a story sticks or nature sticks) which are essentially mementos of a walk in nature, featuring items collected whilst on the walk. These might be things like leaves, twigs, flowers, feathers or anything else natural that you find along the way. “ 

“This activity allowed the children to walk mindfully – to really take their time and look carefully at the natural world. The photo really shows how relaxed and connected to nature the children are and also celebrates the beauty of the environment they’re in.” 

Based in the Scottish Borders, the core aim of Nature Unlimited is to nurture wellbeing, resilience and community through teamwork and nature connection activities in the woodlands. They support participants, at every stage in life, to grow and thrive. They achieve this through hosting a wide range of different sessions from employability programmes, community projects, mental health sessions and team building events.  

Speaking about the Wild Woodlanders project in particular, Jan said it gives children, “the chance to get active, play wild, build dens, make friends, love nature and much more.” 

With the country in lockdown Nature Unlimited have been unable to carry out many of its activities and events, but once they are back in action Jan said they will use the £500 winning donation to have “a really fun training session with a delicious lunch for all of our volunteers.” 

Nature Unlimited are always on the lookout for new volunteers to get involved in their sessions. More information is available on their website if this sounds like something for you.